Prevalence of Underweight, Overweight and Obesity in School-Aged Children in the Urban Area of the Northwestern Part of Romania

Tudor Lucian Pop, Dana Maniu, Daniela Rajka, Cecilia Lazea, Gabriel Cismaru, Adrian Ştef and Simona Sorana Căinap
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Tudor Lucian Pop: 2nd Pediatric Discipline, Mother and Child Department, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Dana Maniu: Faculty of Physics, Babes-Bolyai University, 400084 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Daniela Rajka: Society of Physicians from Children and Youth Communities, 400427 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Cecilia Lazea: 1st Pediatric Discipline, Mother and Child Department, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 40012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Gabriel Cismaru: Cardiology-Rehabilitation Discipline, Internal Medicine Department, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Adrian Ştef: Department of Surgery, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Simona Sorana Căinap: 2nd Pediatric Discipline, Mother and Child Department, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: Introduction: During the last three decades, there has been an excess weight epidemic due to changes in nutrition and lifestyle. Few data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children in Romania were published, without a single study representative at the national level. There are reports on the higher level of overweight and obesity in urban areas compared to rural ones. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of underweight, overweight, obesity and severe obesity in children enrolled in schools from the urban area. Material and methods: For this cross-sectional study, children from 177 schools from the urban area of five counties from the northwestern part of Romania were included after the parents signed written informed consent. Anthropometric data were recorded (weight, height) based on World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations and Body-Mass-Index (BMI), and the z-score for BMI were calculated. The nutritional status was estimated using three reference criteria: WHO, International Obesity Task Force (IOTC) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Results: We analyzed data of 21,650 children (48.19% boys) age between 7 and 18 years. The prevalence of overweight was 13.8%, 16.2% and 20.3%, of obesity was 10.7%, 10.0% and 5.7% and of severe obesity was 5.1%, 1.2% and 1.6% (using WHO, CDC and IOTF cut-offs). Underweight was present in 5.2% (WHO), 6% (CDC) and 2.6% (IOTF). The highest prevalence of overweight (including obesity) was found in children aged 10 years, and the lowest in adolescents at 18 years. Boys have a higher prevalence of excess weight than girls. Using IOTF cut-offs, the prevalence of obesity and severe obesity was lower than using WHO criteria. Conclusions: The prevalence of overweight (including obesity) in children from the urban area of Western Romania was recorded at alarming levels, higher in boys and at the pre-puberty ages. There are significant differences based on the reference system used. It is important to correctly choose the reference for the definition of overweight and obesity to have the correct estimation of the target for public health measures.

Keywords: overweight; obesity; underweight; children; adolescents; urban area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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